


Limits of the Mind

by raktajinos



Category: Fringe, Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Blue Verse, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, For Science!, Gen, Genetic Engineering, Politics, Red Verse, Tatiana isnt in this but she should be a tag anyways right, imagine the great late 70s fashion, implied Nina/Walter/William, suggested recreational drug use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 03:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2176797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raktajinos/pseuds/raktajinos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, a group of scientists gathered with their altverse duplicates in a small country house, to plan the most groundbreaking work into human genetics that had ever been done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Limits of the Mind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kerithwyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerithwyn/gifts).



> You wanted a Orphan Black/Fringe xover and goodness I hope you like this. Once I thought about it, this xover makes *so* much sense and I can totally see it happening. I might write a sequel to this because I just can't stop thinking about it. 
> 
> Also, it's been quite a while since I've rewatched Fringe, so forgive me for any glaring canon errors. :)

“Does he know?” Nina asked, her eyes locked on the glass doors that Walter had just walked through, the transparency allowing her to focus on the back of his sweater as he shuffled away. He always had the oddest gait to his step, something that was uniquely Walter. She smiled slightly, before guilt replaced the warmth in the pit of her stomach. 

“No,” William said, his voice clipped and without remorse. 

Oh course he didn’t. Walter was brilliant enough to erase his own memories, let alone when the two of them worked together; that combination, while brilliant, also lead to some horrible results. 

“And he mustn’t find out,” he added, “not yet at least,” 

“He’ll find out eventually, whether by his own damn curiosity or Olivia’s,” she said, not looking forward to either event. 

“Probably. But until then, we have time Nina,” he said, his voice sad, losing the coldness of a moment before. 

Nina turned to look at him, seeing the deep lines of his face for what felt like the first time; when had he gotten so old; when had _they_ gotten so old. Had it really been all those years ago that she signed on for this. 

She nodded curtly at him before turning to leave, “as always, William,” and he lowered his head in reply. 

She was never a gambling woman, she liked certainty, odds, but she wasn’t averse to taking risks, risks on people who she believed in. Thirty years ago those people had been Walter and William. Their ideas felt so revolutionary at the time, exciting, like living on the edge of the future and it was theirs to shape as they saw fit.

All these years later….she felt like it was starting to crumble around her. 

  
  
_Thirty Years Ago_

Nina Sharp shuffled her hands in her coat pockets, pacing nervously outside the foreboding room. The meeting was being held at a private estate of one of their partners; a gorgeous country estate a few hours west of Montreal. It’s isolation provided them the privacy they needed as well as being outfitted with all the amenities to make their stay pleasant. 

‘As if it could be pleasant’, Nina thought to herself. This was going to be awkward to say the least, let alone anything resembling positive. Sure, they were all gathered there for a singular purpose and they all believed in the project; but beyond the mahogany doors was a room full of some of the most determined and ethically-devoid scientists in the world with personalities to match. And she was nervous. 

Her nervousness irritated her, she’d worked countless hours on making this meeting happen, spearheading this ambitious project with a zeal that frightened some people. She didn’t care though, she was used to turning people off, you didn’t get to be as powerful as she was at her age by playing nice. She got down in the mud and played dirty when she had to. When she wanted to. 

But now here she was, a few steps away from the first real progress, and she was nervous. Doubt pooled in her stomach, nibbling away at her nerves, a little voice in the back of her mind asking her if she was sure, did she really want to do this?

Yes. 

She firmly believed in this project, in pushing the human mind and body to it’s limits and then pushing beyond that; seeing just how far humanity was able to go. She'd been raised by a man who believed that, who taught her to never her own intelligence or that of others. Her father hadn't been a perfect man, getting lost in his work like all geniuses tended to, neglecting his family as a result. She spent time in his lab with him, reading the books he'd considered mandatory and watching him work. When she was old enough, her father encouraged her to participate, to suggest her own hypotheses and run her own experiments. It was why she was so comfortable in science labs, she'd practically been raised in one. 

This however, wasn't a lab. There were no bubbling liquids or odd metal contraptions, no sterile smell of equipment...just the loamy smell of antique wood and plaster and faded photographs lining the walls. They were all scientists here sure, but today, today was a game of politics. And that she had learned from her mother; the art of subterfuge, suggestion and sublimation. Nina would have had a successful career as a scientist, one she would have been happy with; but it was her mother that gave her the skills she needed to not just be some tech working away in a glass box. Her mother taught her how to crawl your way up, how to gain and retain power. And that is why she was on the Board of Directors for a major tech firm by the time she was twenty seven. 

But that fire was failing her now. Vaguely she wondered about the long term consequences of today; of the people that would be affected. Annoyed, she contorted her face into a stern look, chastising herself inwardly. She'd come this far, it was far too late to turn back. She had already made her decision a year ago. Her, Walter and William had been relaxing, smoking a new drug strain they'd developed, lightly buzzed, laying on the floor in a heap. Shivers ran up Nina's spine at the memory of what they'd gotten up to that afternoon. Building the future required some unconventionality after all. Regardless, they were just enjoying the last of the high when Walter spoke up, "I have an idea..."

Oh did he have an idea alright. It was unprecedented. Sure, some work on genome construction had been done in labs around the world but nothing that even remotely compared to what Walter was suggesting. It sounded dangerous, reckless, and exactly the sort of thing she became a scientist to study. It had all been groundwork after that, making a plan, networking with the right people...the people who were now collected in the study.

Nina straightened her spine and braced her shoulders, putting on her business face she pushed the heavy doors open, walked into the room. 

A dozen faces turned towards her, a lull setting about the large space. 

The scientists all gathered, moved to take their places around the table, straightening in their chairs as they did so. A few of them had been eager to sign up, enchanted by the possibilities while others had taken some _creative_ persuading and all of them needed reigning in, a firm hand guiding them and keeping them in line. Which is what she was there for. 

She moved to stand at the head of the table, the sound of her heels being muffled by the thick ornate carpet that was positioned under the table. A hot cup of tea was placed on the table next to her, the aroma of the bergamot waifing pleasantly around her, calming her. 

“Thank you Siobhan,” Nina said, looking up into the harsh face of the Irish woman whose house they were currently in. Nina had met Siobhan years ago through a mutual connection they both had in CSIS at a dinner party no less. They had hit it off right away, though she couldn’t call their relationship a friendship, Nina didn’t have friends in the classical sense. When the idea for Project Leda came up, she pitched it to Siobhan, knowing the other woman would be too curious for her own good to say no. 

Nina was right. As she’d been correct about every person in this room. 

Dr Aldius Leekie came to them from Canada, where he’d been operating out of a cross-border experimental laboratory that carefully skirted several laws in both countries. Nina did not care for the man, he was unnerving and subscribed to a fringe religious cult that paired disturbingly with his science. She had had the misfortune to interact with him on a few occasions before LEDA, and he was certainly a charming man, but he creeped her out. 

Ethan and Susan Duncan, a lovely young couple who had met in graduate school both of them specializing in reproductive technologies. They were the hardest to convince to join the project, raising numerous ethical and moral objections to the work. But in the end, Nina was able to convince them. At the core they were scientists, and that thirst for knowledge and the ever-present ‘what if’ was something that drove them. She used that and manipulated their infertility issues to get them to sign up. One of the stipulations of their contract was that they were to receive one of the successful subjects as their own...which was of course contingent on them being successful. Nina didn’t mind agreeing to that stipulation, it helped motivate them and in the end it wouldn’t matter, all products would be patented and thereby owned by them. 

Then there was William and Walter, the latter of whom looked practically giddy. She knew they were both excited, so many months of hard work had been put into this, lost nights and days to getting this off the ground. 

And then there was the exact duplicates off everyone from the other universe; she deserved a Nobel prize for this massive organization of nation states. It was an endless source of fascination for her, watching the nature vs nurture debate play out when people came face to face with their own duplicates. Her own duplicate was exactly like herself and they worked together very well; unable to use their well-practiced tricks on each other, they were forced to adopt a strategy of blunt honesty. It was awkward and she didn’t trust her other self, but it worked and it was essential. 

They had duplicates of everyone except Walter. His mirrorverse self wasn’t interested and was actually appalled with the idea. That Walter had chosen a career in politics and administration, yet still having a keep mind for science. He lacked the idiosyncrasies of her Walter. Yet he was a pragmatic man and the obvious military applications of the project intrigued him and he was able to see long term, how it would help his career in the long run. So he agreed to be associated with the project, but only from afar. He wanted nothing to do with development. Plausible deniability; if it went well, it was a boon for him, if not then nothing fell on him. 

The Leekie duplicate was just as creepy as their Leekie, if a little more deranged. Nina had suspected that their Leekie had a soft spot, that he was capable of loving certain things or _a_ person, he wasn’t a sociopath. Other Leekie was a straight up sociopath, lacking any and all ethical hesitations. But it was useful to have people like that right now. She could handle him. Plus the two Leekies seemed to get along like peas in a pod and she suspected they were actually sleeping with each other, if the fact that they always had their hands all over each other was any indication. _Prolethians_. 

The Susan and Ethan Duncan duplicates were the most different, they didn’t even know each other in the other universe, let alone be happily married. Susan Brodius as she was know over there, was more fluid than this Susan, much like a female version of Walter; just a little off from reality. Brilliant of course, but definitely a product of hippie parents. The other side’s Ethan was more severe, he smiled less and usually sat quietly in meetings taking notes, rarely speaking up, but then would usually fax out an idea in a formal, finalized language several days later. Nina liked him, he was easy to work with, easy to handle, preferring to stay out of drama and ego-stroking, simply there for the work. 

It was an odd collection of people, yet somehow it felt appropriate, that a project about cloning would be handled by a group of people working with their own duplicates. 

One of the interesting hypothesis of the project was that because they were deliberately focusing on cloning, the clones made in their respective universes would have no duplicates in the other. Of course, they’d have an undetermined number of clones of themselves running around in this universe, so they’d have a similar dissociative experience as the rest of them.

Her world would have control LEDA, the female strain of the re-sequenced DNA. The mirrorverse would control CASTOR, the male strain.There had been endless debates about how to structure it, with the Williams believing both universes should have samples of both male and female strains. Ultimately, it was agreed that for the sake of longevity, the binary would be maintained, that way each universe would need the other and would help retain a working relationship. Phase four of the project was to explore blending the LEDA and CASTOR genetic lines through the products themselves. If both universes had both male and female stains, one side could deviate off the timeline. It was a form of mutually assured destruction, they needed each other. 

“Gentlemen, ladies, shall we begin,” she said confidently. This was her rodeo afterall. 

  
  
_Thirty Years Later_

“Walter?” Nina called out, her voice seeming irritatingly loud in the silent lab. 

“Over here!” the familiar voice said and Nina saw the top of his grey head pop up from behind the cow he liked to keep. 

He smiled as he came towards her, a silver bucket in hand. 

“I’m making vanilla ice cream,” he said gleefully, “I’ve been injecting Gene with a synthetic vanilla flavoured vitamin boost to try and make her milk come out pre-flavoured. Care for a taste?” he asked, tipping the bucket out towards her. 

“Um, no thank you Walter,” 

He shrugged and brought the bucket up to his lips, tipping it back to take a sip. “Mmm, not bad. Needs a bit of cardamom, I’ll have to ---- “ he said, walking over to one of his work benches. Nina missed the end of his sentence slipping off into his usual murmurings when he had an idea. 

“Walter,” she said, interrupting him before he was too far gone. 

He looked up at her as if he’d forgotten she was there. 

“Nina!” he said warmly. 

“Walter, I was hoping you could help me with something,” she said, moving towards the work table, her heels clipping on the cement floor. She pulled a large, slightly worn envelope from her bag and put it on the table between them. 

Walter’s eyes flickered between it and her face, curiosity and wariness warring on his features. 

“One of my research participants is sick, with something we don’t know, and I was hoping you could take a look at her files,” she said, not breaking his gaze. 

She knew he didn’t remember, _couldn’t_ remember, but Walter was still the most brilliant man she’d ever met and if anyone could give any insight into the sickness affecting the clones it would be him. William was right, Walter would figure out his involvement sooner or later, probably sooner as he’d surely recognize his own distinctive work signature all over the documents. He’d come raging into her office demanding the truth and the lost memories. 

He must have seen the desperation in her face, because he nodded and reached out to grab the envelope, spilling its contents on the table. 

She was desperate. They’d lost too many clones too this illness and while each one was a blow, both financially and personally, when Cosima fell ill it ignited a flame of desperation in her. She was quite fond of the girl and the possibilities for a clone to understand her own existence in a purely scientific way was fascinating. She knew in handing over the documents to Walter that she would be telling him the truth, exposing Cosima and the rest of the clones to a larger group of people if he chose to tell Olivia or Phillip. She had a contingency plan for everything, so she could handle it if the larger government and corporate world discovered the project. She just didn’t want to. 

She was putting her faith in Walter once more.


End file.
